A black U. S. Cavalry sergeant has a unique gift of knowing exactly where he is on the trackless prairie of the Texas Panhandle. When he discovers his six-man patrol is close to a much larger party of Comanche Indians, he retreats with his small troop to a waterhole marked by a ghostly white tree trunk remembered from an earlier time. They are attacked by the war party led by a misshapen but powerful warrior who becomes the Buffalo Soldier's personal nemesis. he sergeant foregoes an escape by choosing a new direction arising from his heart—one that may cost him his life.